Turkey urges joint fight against 'Islamophobic terrorism' after Canada attack

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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on June 8 called on the international community to take common action against Islamophobia after four Muslims were killed this week in Canada in an intentional hit and run.

"May Allah's mercy be upon our four Muslim brothers and sisters from the same family who were massacred in Canada," Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter, while urging global action against Islamophobia.

"We must all fight together against the terrorism of Islamophobia, racism and discrimination," he said. "International community must take common action without further delay."

Turkey's presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın also condemned the attack, saying it "shows once again how constructed fear leads to hatred, hatred to animosity and violence."

"This modern barbarism must be stopped. The demonization of Muslims must be ended," Kalın said on Twitter.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesperson Ömer Çelik criticized "the use of anti-Islamic rhetoric" by some politicians and media, saying it encourages hate crimes.

"It is not just a simple criminal act," Çelik said in a tweet. "The language of politics and media, which gives credit to hate crimes, is responsible for this."

Four members of a Pakistani-origin Muslim family were killed when a pickup truck driver, 20-year-old Nathaniel Veltman, intentionally plowed into them in London, Ontario on June 6. 

Another family member, a 9-year-old boy, survived the attack and is in hospital, where doctors called his condition serious but not life-threatening.

According to the police, the driver was arrested shortly afterward and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

The family was "targeted because of their Muslim faith," the police said.